New TSA Screening Procedures
The stories are now legion:
A cancer survivor forced to remove her prosthetic breast.
A man with a urostomy bad left covered in urine.
A 12 year old girl forced to submit to being naked in a scanner.
A rough search into her crotch leaves a woman in tears.
Pants pulled down because of artificial knees, nipple rings removed, TSA agents screaming “I have power!”
I have had enough. Barack Obama should be impeached and removed from office.
He appointed the most inept and ignorant Attorney General in the history of this country. Both Holder and Obama have nothing but contempt for the Constitution.
Barack Obama appointed the single most stupid person in the United States to be head of Homeland Security. Obama is determined to punish the citizens of the United States in order to preserve the rights of Muslim suicide bombers. He is determined to humiliate all of us in order to protect them.
If a vehicle is involved in the commission of a crime, police don’t stop ALL vehicles and search them.
If a suspect in a crime is described as a white male aged 25-30, police do not stop elderly black women and detain them.
It’s called profiling.
Banks profile. Insurance companies profile. It’s been a part of life for a long time. It would be single most effective method at discovering would-be suicide bombers. And it is the one thing this damned idiotic administration won’t do. It has served El Al, the Israeli airline, extremely well. In an interview Isaac Yeffet, the former head of security for El Al had this to say:
“Stop relying only on technology,” Yeffet told CNN. “Technology can help the qualified, well-trained human being but cannot replace him.”
About Richard Reid he said
In 2002, we had Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. This man gave the security people all the suspicious signs that any passenger could show. The man got a British passport in Belgium, not in England. Number Two: he flew to Paris, he bought a one-way ticket from Paris to Florida. He paid cash. He came to the airport with no luggage. What else do I need to know that this passenger is suspicious?
About Umar Abdulmutallab:
Now we face the story with [Umar Farouk] AbdulMutallab. We had all the information that we could dream the security people could get. He was on the list of people connected to al Qaeda. I don’t need more to understand that when he comes, I am not looking for more evidence. He is suspicious; I have to take care of him.
Abdulmutallab was banned from entering Britain but not from entering the US, despite a warning from his father.
The Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Dr Harold Demuren said that Abdulmutallab purchased his ticket without a telephone number or a fixed contact address. Abdulmutallab’s trip was to last from December 25, 2008 to January 9, 2009 and he had no checked lugagge- only a small carry-on bag.
It doesn’t take a genius to see the red flags here. The problem is that we have no geniuses at TSA, or anywhere else in this administration.
Barack Obama is not about to discriminate against Islamic suicide bombers.
The administration’s reliance on technology is not comforting either.
“The scanner caught a subject’s cell phone and Swiss Army knife — and the microphone he was wearing — but missed all the components to make a bomb that he hid on his body… Full-body scanners: they’re not just a dumb idea, they don’t actually work.”
You know those airport scanners that render you essentially naked? The ones that don’t catch bomb-making materials? The ones that are supposed to be staffed by infallible and absolutely trustworthy airport workers who’ll never, ever abuse your privacy with them? Turns out they’re vulnerable to a sophisticated, impossible-to-predict technical attack: a guard was caught taking pictures of the screen while a female colleague was passing through the scanner. Who’d have guessed that was possible?
The ability of these new scanners to even detect explosives of choice is questionable:
Since the attack was foiled, body-scanners, using “millimetre-wave” technology and revealing a naked image of a passenger, have been touted as a solution to the problem of detecting explosive devices that are not picked up by traditional metal detectors – such as those containing liquids, chemicals or plastic explosive.
But Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP, who was formerly involved in a project by a leading British defence research firm to develop the scanners for airport use, said trials had shown that such low-density materials went undetected.
It has been reported that a new direction for suicide bombers includes the insertion of explosive breast or buttock implants.
Al Qaida already has employed the tactic of inserting explosives into the rectum. These are completely obscure to scanners. In Obamaworld this will mean everyone getting an anal and vaginal search because Obama does not want to irritate Muslim suicide bombers.
Then there’s simple abuse.
We were promised that images of you naked would not be stored. That was a lie.
We are assured that security employees would not abuse these images:
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Police received an allegation regarding an incident that happened at Heathrow Terminal 5 on March 10. A first-instance harassment warning has been issued to a 25-year-old male.”
The BAA employee took a photo of his co-worker, Jo Margetson, when she inadvertently went through a scanner.
“I can’t bear to think about the body scanner thing,” she told the Sun. “I’m totally traumatised. I’ve spoken to the police about it. I’m in too much of a state to go to work.”
TSA agents are carefully screened and selected, right?
As AirSafe News reports, “The current system of background checks may have allowed those convicted of rape and other sexually based offenses to join TSA.”
Indeed, back in March it emerged that TSA worker Sean Shanahan, who was employed at Boston Logan International Airport to pat down passengers, had been charged with multiple child sex crimes targeting an underage girl.
Given the fact that the TSA’s new policy allows workers to fondle breasts and genitals, expect a flood of sex perverts and rapists to eagerly sign up.
As I listen to reports of TSA agents demeaning and screaming at travelers, I think we are witnessing the unfolding of a new Stanford Prison Experiment. The TSA is now a police state and all Americans forfeit their Constitutional rights. And that’s no exaggeration. Two quotes courtesy of Gates of Vienna:
We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy.
— Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security
Nobody likes having their Fourth Amendment [rights] violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we’re gonna have to do it.
— Mo McGowan, former Director of TSA Security Operations
Napolitano has made it clear- we Americans are the “determined enemy.”
And as for violating your Fourth Amendment rights? No, it doesn’t have to be done. Profiling is the answer. No one bats an eye when banks, insurance companies do it. No one bats an eye when police do it for all normal operations.
It is a problem only when it involves Muslims. The rights of Muslim suicide bombers are given far more respect than the rights of innocent American citizens. Profiling doesn’t start with Islamists but it will end with Islamists. There is no other religion which promises rewards for blowing up yourself and as many innocents as possible.
But not all Americans are subject to this abuse:
WASHINGTON — Representative John A. Boehner, the soon-to-be Republican speaker, pledged recently that he would fly commercial airlines back home to Ohio, passing up the military plane used by the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. But that does not mean he will endure the hassles of ordinary passengers, including pat downs and other new security screenings.
And it nearly makes me vomit to hear our moron President say this:
“One of the most frustrating aspects of this fight against terrorism is that it has created a whole security apparatus around us that causes a huge inconvenience for all of us,” Obama said.
All of us? All of US?
Who the hell is he jerking around here? When is the last time Michelle Obama had an agent grab her crotch? When was the last time one of the Obama girls was stuck in a scanner? Obama could show “all of us” how he empathizes by putting Sasha or Malia through a scanner every time the fly. Let’s see Obama get his privates searched in public.
Let’s see more of this “us” bullsh*t.
The current Obama policy is galactically stupid.
It’s time for this idiocy to end. Barack Obama as President is the biggest blunder in the history of this country. It’s time to end the Barack Obama Experiment.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
A more intrusive national security state is the inevitable blowback of interventionism. As James Madison warned, “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
We have these security measures at Thanksgiving 2010 because of the undie bomber almost bringing down a jet with 200 plus Americans on board bound for Detroit around Christmas 2009. You can talk about “Big Brother,” “intrusiveness,” molestations, etc., but let’s not forget how we got here. As with 9/11 leading to the intrusive Patriot Act and the Bush era information gathering abuses, a pessimistic risk assessment and a history of damage usually leads to a government reaction and sometimes an overreaction. Pearl Harbor led to a ratcheting up of the US war machine (reaction) and internment of loyal Americans because of their national origin (overreaction). We just had Al Queda in Yemen try to send bombs on airplanes, for God’s sake. To expect business as usual — literally — by the TSA this holiday season is ridiculous.
Dr John, the Obamas have traveled the world explaining to whomever they could get to listen, that America has been the prime source of evil and needs to atone for past crimes. In Michele’s own words:- “Our souls are broken in this nation”, “Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor”, “America is a country that was founded on crime and hatred”, “we’re a country that is just downright mean”, “We’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents.”(sic), “America is guided by fear, and getting worse all the time.”, she complains that in the future she will be forced to endure, “further integration and/or assimilation into a White culture and social structure”.
Is she filled with racial hatred?
Do you think that she and her husband are concerned with the indignities and authoritarian control that is being forced upon air travelers, especially children?
After all, Swinger Claire McCaskill has told us that we are merely receiving “Love Pats”; I suppose that Americans should consider the “Love Pats” a gift of love from the Obamas.
How do you like the idea of atoning for America’s past crimes?
Obama sealed all the writings from his college days at great expense; perhaps his were filled with even more rancor and hatred.
@ B-Rob, as usual, pure speculation on your part. What qualifications/experience do you have in Intelligence Work, National Security Operations, International Relations or any related field?
Blame Bush is not the answer here. Obama/Napolitano are as Unqualified as You are in those Fields but playing the Fear Card. Intimidating the US Public seems to be within their grasp but sensible Policy making is above their heads.
Unfortunately the process is done in the senate. I am saddled with dianne and babs. Yeah, sending them the request to have obama, holder and nappy canned is like talking to a brick wall. Peas from the same pod.
For pete’s sake why don’t we just carpet bomb certain capitals of the muslim world. And then follow up with napalm.
Old Trooper —
No, I have no particular expertise in any of the field you mentioned. And neither do you, genius. I simply have a functioning memory and recall exactly WHY the Patriot Act came about, just as I recall the OUTRAGE last Christmas over the undie bomber that led to these new procedures. You do remember the undie bomber, don’t you? The guy who tried to blow up a jet with crotched chemical explosives? Did you forget that already?
Cons are now wetting their pants because they neither want to go through the high tech scanners, nor go through the pat down. But who would be the first one screaming for heads if someone slipped through with another hidden bomb, whether we were using screening or profiling? Yup . . . cons . . . because your outrage is all about politics, not common sense.
Bush was on duty when 9/11 and the shoe bomber happened. He reacted and in some ways overreacted. Sh*t happens. Obama was on duty when the undie bomber and the Yemeni parcel bombs happened. He has reacted and in some ways overreacted. Sh*t still happens. But I did not cry “Outrage!” when my belt was searched at LaGuardia in 2002 under the Bush Administration and I would not scream if I got searched today even more intrusively under the Obama administration. There are different risks now than then (and we know this) so to continue the same screening procedures would border on the insane.
Cons need to grow up. Stop whining, either step through the machine, get groped, or drive. You all are starting to remind me of Code Pink . . . .
All muslims are laughing at us.
Every failed attempt of theirs results in our government taking our liberties away.
Meanwhile Janet says she does not have any current objections to muslims patting themselves down.
And pilots that have total and singular control over crashing their airplane are sexually groped and x-rayed.
Meanwhile little boys are stripped in public and Obama and his kids get a pass.
Why?
Theoretically, Obama could have a bomb himself and bring down Air Force One.
And for all those people that blame Bush…
Muslims first attacked America in 1784.
They took our citizens as slaves. They murdered our citizens. They stole our ships and their cargo.
It is muslims who first attacked America over 200 years ago.
Everyone who does not know that is very, very ignorant and any comments they make are irrelevant.
12 y/o old boy strip searched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSQTz1bccL4
Fabulous
Let’s see one of Obama’s kids strip searched.
Brob
Reid should never have been sold a ticket. Reid should never have been allowed on the plane. This was an easy one.
One way ticket, cash paid, no luggage.
I have been stopped and gotten a special screening several times when a flight was cancelled and I had to buy a one way ticket in order to get where I needed to be in time.
I did not then nor do I now fit the profile of a suicide bomber.
Again, this is easy.
Swarthy (read Muslim) male, age 20-40, questionable Visa and/or passport procurement.
Reid got his British passport in Belgium. It doesn’t get much easier than this.
I want to know, why the Method EL AL Airlines uses are not used HERE???? They have the highest success rate at preventing Terrorist takeovers of their planes, and have had only 1 hijacking, which was BEFORE they went to the Methods they use now! No naked scans… no “random grope and strip searches, no making a FLIGHT attendant pull out and show her Breast cancer prosthetics in front of people… no feeling up KIDS.. no making a man dislodge his “urine bag” he wears due to a medical condition soiling himself in public… and so far, not finding ONE Terrorist I have seen reported!
WHY won’t they do it, then RIGHT way????
B-Rob is an OBIE lover.. whatever the “Messiah” does is OK with him…. 😆
The undie bomber from last Christmas should never have been on board a plane either.
His father notified the authorities ahead of time yet he still got on board.
The thing to remember with both Reid and the BVD fellow, they were flying in from overseas. These were not domestic US flights so this new TSA protocol would have been irrelevant.
@ B-Rob, I do have specific training, expertise and experience in those fields. Again You are Wrong. Your assumptions and speculation are only overcome by both your arrogance and ignorance.
It just proves what I suspected. Your credibility is quite frankly less than Zero but thanks for your usual type of reply. Insulting the Readers here just makes my point in spades. The usual faulty cow pie slinging from someone that has neither knowledge or qualifications to do anything more that pitch the pie.
“You Cons” “Blame Bush” and your perpetual display of insipid talking points is just illustrative of your bias and lack of perception but thanks for the expected response.
I have a US Diplomatic Passport and a Federal Concealed Weapons Permit for several reasons and have completed Training that you quite frankly do not qualify as “need to know” at any level. You just continue to amaze me in a humorous fashion.
When you are a fully vested Partner in Your Firm, send me your resume.
Trooper, you are making less and less sense each day. What did I “blame Bush” for? Over reacting? Yeah, he did. I believe the Iraq invasion was an over reaction, not unlike the hypervigilence of a mugging victim. It is understandable and expected. Which is why you response was so empty. You don’t even try to address my central point which is that these new procedures did not drop out of the sky. These programs are in place to respond to a particular situation. All the whining is so damned silly! But unless and until someone can come up with a workable system (and, no cons, just hassling all the “swarthy” looking people will not work, morons, because John Walker Lindh was an All American White boy), we will all be incovenienced. Deal with it.
Geez, I swear, you cons see “creeping sharia,” “creeping fascism” around every corner. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a security program is a security program. You are becoming more and more paranoid and whiney as each week goes by. If you don’t want to get scanned, and you don’t want to get “groped”, then take the friggin bus.
What a freakin’ great article! I have spent tonight doing research to write a blog for my own friends who are questioning why they should be concerned about the TSA’s policies, and as I read through this page, I was just struck both by the thoroughness of addressing the various issues and the fact that you had supporting links for each of them. That is a sign of good research and an educated writer. Thanks!
I’m really very tired of certain people falling back on The Patriot Act as some sort of valid side of this argument. First of all, it was targeted at terrorists, would be terrorists, people ‘in touch with’ terrorists … their communications and banking transactions. I have asked for an answer to this question for a few years now, and have yet to have it answered. They say: “The Patriot Act stepped on our rights” … I’d really like the name/case where this actually happened to someone, NOT listed above that was the target of the Patriot Act.
Also, when the ACLU, NYTimes, MFM, liberals/leftists began bitching about TPA a lot of it was rolled back.
Now, all that said, I would say we have, in the last couple years, evidence of more innocent people whose rights have been shit all over, with no probable cause. Arizona is currently being sued by this same government for passing a law that said it’s police officers can enforce federal law by asking for identification of citizenship when stopping someone for another violation/crime. But the people being strip searched, patted down, and in some cases their property taken without benefit of a court ordered search and seizure at the friggin airport have done nothing wrong. Hell, in some cities police are NOT allowed to ask a person if he/she is in this country legally.
Now, that said, in the last few weeks of following this through stories/pictures/videos
1) I have yet to see just ONE person of Muslim/Arab persuasion being scanned or groped down
2) have yet to hear how TSA thwarted ANYTHING dangerous headed for a flight
And another thing … When did it become the practice to basically tell us to either give up our personal rights or “F”-off and find another mode of transportation? When did we ever have to make that trade-off before? When did we actually have people who thought that was great liberal doctrine … these “don’t fence me in” types?
You put the TSA and their Rapiscan and their groping blue-gloved claws on the southern border to check people coming into this country, legally and illegally, and you smug “con” bashers would be wetting yourselves.
It’s also rather strange that recent “dry-runs” on airplanes in the luggage of Muslims have been shrugged-off and those involved let free. Cell phones duct taped to bottles of Pepto bismal ( http://tinyurl.com/3592ovc ) is nothing more than “just how they pack their suitcase” ( http://tinyurl.com/2e45omf ), but a woman’s prosthetic breast after a radical mastectomy is highly suspect and worthy of humiliation and a gestapo treatment.
Big Sis is right now looking into ‘adjustments’ to appease CAIR and their need to protect the women they would normally hang/behead/stone from going through a Rapiscan or the grope-down. But THAT’S okay with you people poo-pooing OUR outrage at this bullshit.
This is not “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Lee DeCovnick @ American Thinker:
What Obama has started here between him, napolitano, and the un-accounted czars is the ‘conditioning’ of the flying american populace. This conditioning has been used as a tool during the old totalitarian butchers of history to eventually herding, and we all know what comes next!
Remember, the one-worlders running out of time, they are in hurry to condition, and manage the decline or fall of the USA!
Go a question about profiling, cons. A 31 year old Muslim guy from Detroit comes to airport security. His last name is Ahmed, he is the son of Jamal and Subra Ahmed. When he was 27, he left home and received training in explosives and weapons. He’s been waging war ever since and is now coming back to the US from Afghanistan. He has no money on him and a one way ticket to the US. He does not honestly know how long he will be in the US because his leaders have not told him what his next assignment will be. He doesn’t know if it will be in the US or somewhere else.
Sounds suspicious to you? How much should he be hassled when he comes through security? After all, he is a young Muslim male.
I have raised this again and again: racial/ethnic profiling does not work. El Al, the national airline of Israel, runs very few flights to a few cities; they do a combo of racial and behavioral profiling. They require you to be there three hours early and they screen everyone, paying more attention to young males.
Cons here refuse to explicitly admit that this would not work in our country (starting with the three hour arrival time . . . please . . .). We have too many airlines, too many flights, and our “enemy” is not as easily identified as Israel’s. Regardless, some here have suggested we do racial/ethnic profiling anyway — as one poster put it, just pull out the “swarthy” types for behavioral profiling. OK.
So. . . this is the guy your profiling would tend to hassle at security — a young Muslim male. As the likes of Jihad Jane, John Walker Lindh, Adan Ghadan, Omar Hammami and the entire Hutaree militia (all White Americans) don’t even get a sniff.
The people doing the screaning for TSA are probably making just about minimum wage. The assumption therefore is that they are not brain surgeons nor rocket scientists. BUT they have the power to inflict their stupidity on the innocent public. As Lord acton said ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. I wouldn’t expect logic or intelligence to have anything to do with the actual searches or with the protocols put in place by similar morons in charge.
As the person at the checkout counter of a grocery store who refused to permit a woman to pay for her goods because the infant in the cart didn’t have shoes on. The manager had told her that the store policy was “No shirt, no shoes, no food.” Genius!
Dr. John makes a great point – Let’s see anyone try to fondle any member of the Obama family!
Gerry –
You can pretty much compare the unionized government medical staff in the British NHS. I have read/heard horror story after story over the years about doctors and nurses who simply are uninspired to actually care about what they do, and the patients suffer, some gravely. If the TSA is a hint of what is to come with ObamaCare and those who will treat us …
Remember, doctors will be leaving practice and look for nurses to follow. Hospitals/Offices will be backed-up, and patients neglected. “Bedside manner” will go out the window.
Yeah, nice try on that US trooper returning home from A-stan. Oooo! Must check them dastardly Muslim enemies the US military has nicely trained. Ya tried to slip one past us.
BTW, why don’t you drop the “cons” bullshit and just call us filthy Jews? You know it’s what you’re really pining to say. Free your mind and your ass will follow.
A cigar is just a cigar until someone’s favorite politician uses it for a sex object. Or the CIA allegedly wants to bump a certain murdering dictator of a certain Communist enslaved island.
I haven’t been “in this room” for awhile, but I do know the illicit stabs at Old Trooper really diminish your offerings in this debate. As a matter of fact, you back-up anything you say with a direct insult to one or more people here. Nice touch (pun intended)
And I reiterate … When did forfeiting our personal rights become a condition for anything in this country? Yes, flying is a privilege, but a privilege never has the prerequisite of forfeiting our rights. And just so we’re sure here, this administration is pushing for “bullet trains” and wider uses of public transportation for the unwashed masses in order to push us out of our private property (cars/trucks/SUV’s). And even in our own modes of personal transportation there is a push to install devices to track our mileage and tax us according to what the government decides is our allotment so that we will opt for public transport. Hell, they are already tracking us in our cars. “Walk” you’re about to suggest? CC cameras are everywhere, unless you’re out in the sticks, in which case Google’s got your ass covered by satellite. There ARE plans to set up these Rapiscan machines (and more likely than not the accompanying grope-search teams) at public transport facilities (see: bus and train stations) and public venues (sports arenas, parks, etc.). They are already in use in the airports, obviously, and courthouses and other “government” buildings.
You raging liberals sure spend a lot of time making up the rules as you go along and where you see the need to shove a square peg into a round hole.
I was contacted by FMS – Family Medical Service – to be a provider of services for them. I was promised X number of patients per year. All I had to do was give a number of “free” services per family per year and I would receive $12.00 per person per month. When I pointed that this program would have me bankrupt in about 2 years I was told that I would schedule FMS patients only on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 10:00 and 12:30 so I wouldn’t have to provide services at all! I told them to stuff it!
This is what socialized medicine / ObamaCare will provide for those truly in need!
The government may feel it appropriate to pay farmers not to grow produce but I really want to provide health care at a reasonable fee to those patients needing attention! I realize this is a strange work ethic but that’s how I was brought up.
B-rob, you REALLY need to look at how the Israelis do it before assuming things and posting.
I was recently on a blog where the blogger talked about it a little. Arab Israelis sailed thru with no problems. He was pulled aside due to some of the places stamped on his passport. In fact, he usually gets pulled aside in Israel. He’s white and American.
@ B-Rob, even You must know that WE don’t profile. It is NOT Policy. Try something else to spread BS and false rumors about. Another cow pie thrown short by the Amateur pitcher. Never even got across home plate.
Don’t you have any Legal work to do?
I hear that some Club GITMO folks need Counsel. Try to go there to get a clientele base. They have Civil Rights complaints. Not enough ice cream served at dinner is the rumor…
You quite simply amaze me. Go ask the Israeli Consulate in your neck of the woods.
i wonder what the tsa folks will think when they look at your scan rbob and find nothing in the head. 😛
I want some assurance that the TSA’s programs of scanning and fondling will have any beneficial results. The terrorists will always be one step ahead of those measures taken. If you know what screenings are in place you are prepared and work around the threat of being apprehended.
To my knowledge not one person has ever been caught with a dangerous substance in their computer, in their shoes or under their baseball cap! As it is now I can bring an ounce of some chemical onto a plane, and so can 10 others. Then we put all this together and guess what – 10 ounces of explosives! It’s stupid . Scanning wont work nor will random groping. Find some precautions that will actually do the job – Call Israel!!!
ORPO1- I’m with you, although I think a neutron bomb would be best. sadly, it would kill the camels and other innocent animals…
I happen to be in Amman Jordan this week. People seem to be so uninterested in their local politics but follow avidly what we do in the US. They seriously do not understand our approach to terrorism. While they may not particularly like or dislike the Israelis, the folks I spoke with here all seem to agree that the Israelis are doing security right. They question why we don’t follow their lead, given that we have been and continue to be a huge target.
@ B-Rob
B-Rob, have you ever watched Border Wars? It may be on at the same time Oberman is on, so you may have to DVR it. Would you call what those guys do “profiling?” They end up busting people of just about every color under the sun, so I don’t think you could call it “racial” profiling. But what they do is profiling. They profile drug runners. They stay on top of intelligence reports of the latest methods in drug transport. I like what Col. West said yesterday on Meet the Press. It’s not profiling, it’s called Trend Analysis.
By the way, your diatribe concerning Ahmed does not fly. The military takes care of their people flying back and forth from overseas. You fly under orders, even if you are on leave. You can’t even be discharged at an overseas base. You fly back to the States first, so even then, you are under orders. Nice try though.
And personally, I don’t have a problem going through a full body scanner. Being in the military tends to relieve you of your modesty. Enhanced pat downs probably wouldn’t bother me either. But if I had a young daughter, both would bother me immensely.
What’s more important – Being politically correct, not profiling and being sensitive to every Muslim demand or doing something worthwhile to prevent getting our asses blown out of the sky?!?!
Who of these has attempted to blow up an airliner with himself or herself on board?
I think for purely symbolic purposes Barack and Michelle Obama should have their privates fondled and examined before each flight of AF1 and their two daughters placed in a scanner before each flight to prove how safe it is.
All publicly, of course.
To reassure the public.
Great post.
You made an excellent point about how the technology can only help the competent screener.
I happened to go to the hiring fiar for the very first screeners back in 2002.
Our local airport was limiting its picks to those who happened to be nearly hard-core unemployables.
I saw retired engineers and college students turned down while many fat people-of-color got the jobs.
IQ points were not required.
It seemed they went against your chances.
And, as I look at those TSA employees on the news, it looks like Long Beach Airport was not the only one trying to hire the dumbest of the dumb.
We just got back from Alaska….private jet both ways.
I cannot imagine putting up with the treatment we are seeing at the public airlines’ entries.
I have, in years past, been in and out of Israel and flown El Al.
Wonderful.
You feel very secure and respected.
That’s all I’ll say.
Old Trooper —
I found this interview of a former El Al guy.
http://www.therightscoop.com/obama-tsa-is-using-most-effective-screening-techniques
How does he say they “profile”? Passenger list before they come to the airport, comparing them to a list of suspicious people. They then ask him questions. Do they profile based on race or ethnicity? No.
But the main thing I point out AGAIN, is that El Al is a minor airline. Small passenger base, few flights, only 40 planes in the entire world. What might work for that airline (with three hours lead time on every one of its few flights) would NOT work for American, Southwest, Continental, etc., which are flying hundreds of flights every day from hundreds of cities with tens of thousands of passengers flying every day, some of them switching to Continental because their American flight was missed, traveling at the last minute due to a change in plans, etc. NO ONE has addressed the practicalities, not to mention the cost, of adopting El Al’s labor intensive, slow and laborious process, which works when you have few flights and alternatives, to OUR 50 state, 311 million person country.
And what else did the guy from El Al say? “Stop the panic and fear.” This site, where Obama is concerned, thrives on fear and panic.
* * * * *
I KNOW we don’t profile based on race. national origin, or religion, and we shouldn’t. But cons on this site have called for just that: profiling “swarthy” people, profiling people with “Muslim names,” etc. Why? Because after the undie bomber, cons are so OUTRAGED that they have to chose whether to go through a scanner machine that will take a picture of your naughty bits, or be swept by hand. This is what YOU GUYS are calling creeping fascism, a totalitarian take over, etc.
But it’s a curious one, this fascism — it only applies if you want to fly on common carriers. As I see it, you have other choices, though. Drive, take the bus, take the train, or get a NetJets account and fly by private jet. But if you intend to get on a plane with 50 to 300 people flying to or within the US, your a$$ is gonna get screened for hidden weapons and explosives.
Lastly, I think I made my point: profiling based on a name or even being a Muslim is under-inclusive, over-inclusive and a waste of time. You end up spending time on the 40,000 US military members who are Muslims, mostly Arab and Black (people who, by definition, risk death at the hands of Islamists BECAUSE of their military affiliation) and you ignore whacked out White people, Christian and Muslim alike, like the ones I linked to above. For every American born Muslims we should be worried about, can point you to 15 to 20 American born Christians who are much more of a danger. Remember . . . it was not just Muslims in the Palestinian territories who cheered on 9/11; so did the White supremacists who though it was a blow against “Zionist occupied government.”
island —
You wrote “All muslims are laughing at us.” Funny, I don’t think Jamal and Subra Ahmed are laughing about anything today, do you? Norom . . . .
I don’t believe that “Secure and Respected” are terms with which the Obama regime are familiar. Not in their politics and not with air travel. When I fly I feel only semi secure and not at all respected. And thing are only going to get worse!
rbob, thanks for proving my point. 😆
Wow. B-rob can actually read! He learned what the Israelis mean by “profiling.”
Granted El-Al may not be as big as some here, but it can be done on a larger scale.
@ B-Rob…
Nope, I quoted some articles but did not write that. Nope, WE do not profile. So what is your point?
Now wait a second, I think I spotted it…
“Whacked Out White People”, OK now what kind of RACIST Crap is that? You played Your Hole Card again. The Race Card. I reckon that tells me All I need to know about you. Typical and Expected. You just reached your all time low with me. For an allegedly educated man, you sure come off pretty stupid. I reckon that your Racist Agenda stole your frontal lobes!
You comments paint you as somewhat of a lesser man with every other posting rendering more Racist remarks. How do jerks like You keep a License to practice? Still not a partner in your Firm yet? I think I know why…
Curt may view your crap as diversity. I don’t.
Worthy of note is the reality that the Mosad and Interpol have data that can be in US hands, free for asking but the Current CIA discounts it but buys faulty info from the Pakistani ISI and begs for crumbs from the Saudis that furnish second hand info of dubious value. That is not Classified but pertinent to discussion.
The US CIA is just Junior Varsity level now. I wish it was different. The Napolitano DHS is an absolute joke and the joke is on US.
@ B-Rob
He who Gives up his Liberty, For Security, deserves neither…. Benjamin Franklin…. that said..
I personally am willing to bend a bit, the “Israeli Method” of screening is perfectly acceptable to me… and works. Why don’t we use it here, instead of the Grope and Peep Show method WE are forced to deal with??? Simple question…. so, why not?
Hankster: Reason why not is due to Political correctness and fear of insulting the very people who have already declared War on us while willingly alienating and insulting the Christian and Jewish population of this Nation.
I can see the possibility of David Axelrod calling you and saying “If you don’t shut this blog down we’re going to make public your wife’s body scan.” Or perhaps the call will come from the IRS.
Brob, I don’t understand your reluctance to profiling when it’s everywhere already- banks, insurance, police, etc. Why should this escape but for politically correct reasons?
Any airline travel profile of potentially bad people will take all of us to the same place.
Are you willing to submit to a body cavity search each time you fly? How about one for your wife and/or kids?
We’re being pushed into a corner step by step and we keep complying with the standards set by Islamic terrorists. It’s time to fight back. It’s time to stop punishing all of the innocents. I have flown over 3 million miles. I should be exempt. So should my family be exempt.
DrJohn —
My 14 year old girl will be flying this afternoon. I talked with her two days ago about whether she will do the scanner or the pat down. We have these procedures for a reason. If you don’t want to be involved, I suggest Amtrak.
Hankster wrote —
It is simple. Per wikipedia, El Al had 40 planes and flies to 48 cities. That, by definition, means they cannot have more than a few flights per day; I heard the number is 30 flights per day worldwide, which sounds about right. In other words, it is a minor minor MINOR airline by any measure.
El Al’s travel rules require travelers to be at the airport three hours before the flight. They talk to each traveler and pull out people who have “suspicious” names. It is a combination of “behavioral” screening and profiling, since they pay attention to where you traveled before.
If they don’t like your answers, you don’t fly on El Al. Now, obviously, this would be an inconvenience. But you can always fly Delta or Continental to Tel Aviv. In other words, you have choices.
Continental Airlines flies 200 flights per day just from my local airport. Chicago O’Hare Airport moves more people in a day than all the El Al flights move in a year. In short . . . you can’t take a time consuming, personalized screening procedure that works for an airline flying 30 flights per day and apply that to our air transit system. The three hour lead time alone would wreck havoc with our system.
We have chosen to go the high tech route, using scanners. It fits better with our huge international system, the busiest most important airline market in the world. If you applied the El Al rules to our entire system, you not only would have people who (a) would not be able to fly unless they arrived three hours early, but (b) people may not know until they get screened whether they would be permitted to fly, based on their answers to screening questions. And they would find at 5:45 p.m., on an out of town trip, that they were banned from flying on ANY airline, not just the one . . . because the screening procedures would apply to all airlines, not just one, as with El Al.
In fact, I suggest an experiment: let’s establish a demonstration program in a good Red State airport, say Dallas/Fort Worth. Let the Dallas airport apply the El Al techniques while the rest of the country sticks with the scanners. If Dallas works fine, with three hour lead times, individual interviews, people not permitted to fly at all because their answers were inappropriate, then we should consider applying it elsewhere.
Wanna bet that the Texas congressional delegation would have a fit if THEY were “singled out and punished” by applying those “costly, draconian, Big Brother tactics” where you don’t fly if you are not at the airport three hours early? You betcha!
And I can see it now: cons filing lawsuits because they don’t like certain questions, such as “do you have guns in your home?” and are not permitted to fly because they don’t want to answer certain questions “asked by the government.” Civil rights groups suing because “some people” are prohibited from flying at higher rates than others. At least with a scanner system, there is an objective measure of who is permitted to fly and who is not, as opposed to the subjecting decision making by the person screening.
So those are the reasons why the El Al system simply won’t work: it is too slow, too subjective and too intrusive to function in our travel system. Other than that, it is a swell idea.
@ B-Rob, I highly recommend AMTRAK. When I travel back home I use it often if the destination is too long a drive. I went to Calgary from Missoula a couple of months ago to buy some livestock. I bought the seed bulls and returned home with them by rail. It was safe, comfortable and no lines or security issues. No complaints here on AMTRAK. If your schedule permits, it is a grand way to travel.
Going through Canadian Customs on the Calgary trip was easy and the Canadian Agents were very polite and helpful. Six Bulls with proper paperwork in health, bill of sale and a few hours later back to the ranch with no problems. US Customs on return was no problem either but the Canadians were more gracious.
I wish your Daughter a safe flight and no hassles.
Old Trooper —
I did not say that YOU, Trooper, said that all the Muslims were laughing at us. I noted the name of the person who made that particularly stupid remark. Shout out to you, “island”!
Now on to your curious definition of “racism.” Let me get this straight: I called for the US to NOT waste time and effort profiling based on race and ethnicity; I pointed out that when you profile that way, you skip over VERY DANGEROUS “whacked out White people.” I even gave names of individual whacked out White people who you cons would permit on board an airplane. I could have added people like this guy and people like these guys — while you are hassling people like this guy.
How is it “racist” to point out that targeting “swarthy” people will let “whacked out White people” go without any scrutiny? That is simple common sense and a natural outcome of targeting SOME PEOPLE based on race and national origin and ignoring OTHER PEOPLE.
I make the same point again: if you profile based on race and national origin, Hedo Turkoglu, a Turk formerly from Canada, gets stopped and hassled, while this guy scoots right through, because of his race (White) and national origin (‘Bama). How the hell is it “racist” to point that out?
@ B-Rob
B-Rob:
And this ladies and gentlemen is why our country is so screwed. Lawyers run our country and the way they think is “comprehensive.” You segregate the screening by airline, and segregate the screening per airline by flight. I fly out of Atlanta. At any given time, there are thousands of people going through security. I’m sure this seems overwhelming, but they get through security pretty quickly. If you segregate the security by airline, and even further down to flights, the amount of people going through any one point significantly decreases. This would give the security personnel less people to look at overall and be able to make better judgements about the people going through security.
Haven’t you LIBs learned your lessons about comprehensive crap yet?
@ B-Rob, Again, We do NOT profile based upon melatonin, gender, age or any other criteria. Period. nor is that the practice in Europe or the Middle East. I am presently in Belgium. They do nor profile either.
There are some very bad Hombres out there from every Hyphenated group. My issue is the decisiveness of Hyphenated- Americans as opposed to just Americans by Birth, by Legal Immigration, by choice. The perpetuation of racism in America is dependent upon the Hyphenation Factor. I judge Folks by actions and merit, not who your Mom, Dad or Grandparents were. We are either ALL Special or NONE Special.
Nope. WE do NOT profile with the exception of some Folks here that labor under the foolish notion of Hyphenation. That is my point here. Race should never be an issue. Some folks want it to be and I resent that practice. I have been mistaken for being of Italian Heritage due to skin color and so has my Daughter. We just laugh it off. We are not of that origin. We are above that. We are Americans with relatives living on Indian Reservations, two generations removed.
When the Hyphenation stops, racism goes away. The Beltway Snipers were not Boston Irish or Philly Italians, New York Jews, Salt Lake City Mormons, just BAD Americans. Is that easy enough to comprehend? The Oklahoma City Bomber was just a Bad American. Period.
Mr. Irons —
Watch the clip I posted above from the guy formerly head of security for El Al. He said you should NOT try to profile for religion (i.e., Muslims) because all you do is piss people off for no reason. It is not “Muslims” or “Arab males” you need to be worried about; it is dangerous people, whether they are White, American, Christian, or Jew, who have a beef. This guy you want on your flight; he is a Muslim from Egypt. This nice fellow? All American White guy? Trust me, you don’t want to be flying at 30,000 with him any of his “friends.”
Now you tell me how we design a system that lets the Muslim doctor from Egypt fly, but keeps the Neo-Nazi from Illinois off the plane?